On the hunt for Mansur Gavriel...

I was fortunate to spend the Thanksgiving holiday in Jamaica with my husband's family this fall.  The day after Thanksgiving proved to be a rainy one, so my sister-in-law and I sat on a covered porch, overlooking the Caribbean sea, and surfing the 'net on our iPads as it was Black Friday.

Our view - Image from Jennifer Houston.

She was looking for a tote: something to carry to work, not too big, no big logos, and able to hold an iPad.  I immediately thought of the impossible-to-get Mansur Gavriel tote bags.  

Better known for their bucket bags, Mansur Gavriel is a "New York City based design lavel founded by Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel in April of 2012".  They make totes and bags with exceptional leather and very clean lines.  A friend of mine had been on email notifications for a while this fall as she wanted to score a bucket bag; eventually, she did. 

So off to the Mansur Gavriel website we went, and fawned over the bags shown online.  Not a one in stock.  We signed up for email notifications and thought we'd have to wait a while to get one.

No sooner than we were back, did the email arrive - online store to be restocked on December 9th!  I made a note on my calendar and waited until today.

So early this morning, the texting started (I'm conversing in blue):

Images from Jennifer Houston.

Additionally, Instagram was blowing up at @mansurgavriel.  Some of the comments were hysterical and worked me into even more of a frenzy over these bags:

Images are screen shots from Instagram.

Around 2:10pm EST, while my sister-in-law was on a plane, I hit refresh for the hundredth time and there they were!  All the bags, all in stock.  I quickly put 2 totes in my shopping cart and checked out.  Are you curious as to what caused complete a disruption in my day?  This.  Plain and simple.  The last one is the one I purchased for myself.  Great shape, beautiful leather (Lisa and I saw and held one of their bucket bags in Steven Alan in Boston, and my friend's bucket bag is gorgeous), and a price around $400 - not breaking the bank.  

Images from mansurgavriel.com.

And within 30 minutes, they were sold out.  Seriously.  What a marketing plan! Merry and happy, to me, from me. ~ JH